Butter Chicken Recipe; Murgh Makhni Recipe

Butter Chicken Recipe (Murgh Makhani)

The Butter Chicken conspiracy happened a few weeks back. As I sat on the dining table quietly eating my breakfast one morning, my parents were in an animated discussion about their impending kitty party on the weekend. They were supposed to contribute a non-vegetarian dish to the kitty potluck. Dad stated that though butter chicken is preferred, his preparation never came out good. To this mom added that some members of their kitty flock may not prefer a mutton dish. The discussion was pointed at me and yielded its desired result.

I finally made the matters simpler for them by saying I will solve this issue by making Butter Chicken (or Murgh Makhani). To this the instant reply from Dad was, “I will get you two chickens first thing on Saturday morning. How many pieces do want them to be cut into?” this entire exercise was preplanned so that it led to an affirmative from my end. Not that I would have said “No” otherwise if asked directly. 🙂

As Sidhant came back from school, I told him about our plan of making the “Butter Chicken”. We were to cook for 10-12 people and that too with the rigour of marinade involved. Butter chicken is our all time favourite especially when eaten atMughal Mahal. But by now I have also perfected the art of making it at home. The chicken roast is done in a microwave using the Grill Combi settings while the creamy, buttery gravy is prepared in parallel. The mission was to cook over the weekend. Come Saturday, we started with cleaning the chicken and lined up the rest of the ingredients to be utilised in the decadent dish. How we went about it follows below.

While we had our setbacks on the butter chicken cooking day. Sidhant fell off the stool while stirring the gravy, the milk got spilt, the microwave didn’t work, and there was no cream available in the whole of Gurgaon. But we cooked. We were told that the butter chicken that got served was appreciated by all and polished off totally. The butter chicken recipe below is for 10 odd people, if you want it to make for less adjust the ingredients proportionately.

Preparation Time: 3 hours

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Cooking Gizmos: Microwave and a Copper Patila (Deep Vessel)

Serves: 10 (Ten) People Easily

Stuff you need to make butter chicken recipe?

what goes in?

what kinds?

how much?

Ingredients for the marinade

Chicken without skin

Cut into a total of 24 pieces

2 No.

Lime Juice

4 tablespoons

Salt

Table salt

1 teaspoon

Red Chilli Powder

Kashmiri

2 tablespoon

Garam Masala

Powdered

1 tablespoon

Ginger Paste

2 tablespoons

Garlic Paste

1 tablespoons

Curd

Hung

1 Cup

Olive Oil

Pomace or Extra Virgin

4 tablespoons

Ingredients for the gravy

Butter

50 grams

Olive Oil

5 tablespoons

Cinnamon

2 long sticks

Cardamom

Green

6 – 7

Pepper Corns

Black

10 – 12

Cloves

Pods

6 – 7

Bay Leaf (Tej Patta)

2 whole leaves

Ginger Paste

1 tablespoon

Garlic Paste

1 tablespoon

Tomato Puree

Homemade will do

400 grams

Fresh Tomatoes

Blended

6 medium sized

Fresh Green Chillies

Whole and split into two

4 long ones

Red Chilli Powder

Kashmiri

2 tablespoons

Garam Masala

Powdered

1 tablespoon

Crushed Kasoori Methi

Dried fenugreek leaves

1 tablespoon

Honey or Sugar

Brown Sugar

2 tablespoons

Fresh Cream

1 Cup

Salt

To taste

How to make the butter chicken recipe?

Start with cleaning the chicken and then make small incisions on the chicken pieces.

Mix salt, 2 tablespoons of Kashmiri Red chilli powder and 4 tablespoons of lime juice into a paste and smear it nicely on the cleaned chicken. Let it rest for 30 minutes or so.

Remove the chicken and Combi Grill on a high rack on medium settings for 12 minutes and your chicken is done. Preserve the remaining marinade.

Baste the chicken with butter once after 7 minutes or so. Recover the juices collected in the browning dish below and keep aside.

Debone the chicken, cut it into small strips and keep aside.

Add olive oil and butter to the pan. As the butter melts add cinnamon, cardamom, pepper corns, cloves and bay leaves. Fry till they start giving out their aroma. Add ginger and garlic paste to it and fry for 2 minutes.

Add tomato puree, freshly blended tomatoes, fresh green chillies, Kashmiri chilli powder, Garam Masala powder, salt, preserved marinade and the juices recovered from the browning dish. Add two cups of water to this and bring it to boil.